MobileTechRoundup podcast 84: Happy New Year!

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.
MoTR 84 is 37:00 minutes long and is a 34 MB file in MP3 format.
INTRO: Based on “Time v2.1″ by Meta Sektion, additional mixing by James Kendrick.
HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:
We're gearing up for CES...the excitement is building!
The Raon Digital Vega is in da house, graciously on loan from iCube.
Roundtable thoughts on 800 x 480 cellphone screens at 2.9-inches.
Not everyone is a happy Zunelander just yet. Authentication issues are plaguing the experience.
Freeware of the show: ControlFreak for S60 devices.
Freeware of the show #2: Mobile Office, also for S60 devices.
In 2007, what mobile tech advancements would you like to see?
Thanks to all of the listeners for the support in 2006.
See ya in 2007 and have a Happy New Year!

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Bypass amusement park lines with mobile tech

Hate those long lines at amusement parks? If you've got a mobile phone or other device with Internet access, this note I just received two minutes ago from Dave Zatz might come in handy:

"At Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure today... In line at Spiderman ride now. Long line to get into parks but we noticed a kiosk for online ticket purchases so we used the 6700 to buy the tickets and print from kiosk! Skipped the lines, walked right up to kiosk. Also, online purchases save you $4 a ticket which is a nice bonus."

How awesome is that? Dave composed this note while in line with his PPC-6700 on the Sprint network, shot a self-portrait to prove that you don't need to shave while on vacation, bypassed the long wait to get in the park and saved $4 bucks a ticket in the process! Nice.....oh, and Dave, don't forget to wear you seatbelt on the Spiderman ride; be sure to secure the 6700 too!

Zune- an update

Long before the release of the Zune I wrote an open letter to Microsoft explaining what I felt they had to do if they wanted the Zune to seriously compete with the iPod.  The seamless and simple way the iPod/ iTunes combination works for newbies is one of the reasons why the iPod has dominated the media player arena.  In my letter to MS I made it clear that the simple plug and play experience for newbies was going to determine if the Zune could make a serious run against Apple.  My own experience with two different Zunes was far from "plug and play" and I thought on this last day of the year I should give an update with my Zune story.

My initial install problems with one of the Zunes in my household were, shall we say, time consuming.  It took me hours to get to a point where the Zune software was installed properly and I could access the Zune Marketplace as I should.  After a day and a half of Zune bliss I lost my ability to log into the Zune Marketplace, it would just sit there at the signing in dialog forever.  Literally forever, until I killed the process with the Task Manager.  I decided I needed to reinstall the Zune software so I removed it and reinstalled, only to have the same problems completing the install that I originally experienced.  Time to regroup.

I then uninstalled the Zune software (again) and this time I rebooted the PC before installing again.  This seemed to do the trick, apparently some dregs are left behind when you remove the Zune software that prevent a successful reinstall.  The new install worked perfectly, taking only 10 minutes to complete.  The only thing I had to do at this point was resync my entire library, including all songs I had downloaded using the Zune Pass from the Marketplace.  The sync of my videos took a couple of hours as the Zune software insists on converting it to a format optimized for the Zune player, even though the videos were already QVGA and optimized for playback on small screens.  Once that was complete my Zuniverse was properly aligned and I was living the audio/ video good life. 

My observations about the Zune experience now that it is working properly:

The Zune player is marvelous, I love the screen and especially the interface.  Having several thousand songs on the player I can state that it is much easier to find what I want on the Zune than it is on the iPod.

Video playback is great- they are very high quality and playback is seamless.

Syncing takes too long- I know I have a lot of media on the Zune but taking 10 minutes to sync when little has changed is just too long.  I think this is because I keep the various media types (audio, video, photos) in special folders that have been added to the "monitor folder" list.  In any event it should be able to tell if nothing has changed and do little if necessary.

The Zune Markeplace (ZM) is fun to use but there are some glaring omissions (at least for me).  Try a genre search for Jazz or Classical music and you'll see what I mean, they don't exist.  There is no easy way to locate new artists in these genres because the only good search you can do is on the artist name, since the genre is not listed on the ZM. 

My number one problem still lies in the area of signing into the ZM.  If there is anything wrong with the Windows Live servers or the Marketplace itself the Zune software will sit there forever, hanging up the software completely and the only way out is to cancel the process.  This will frustrate many new Zune owners to the point they might abandon the platform.  It is extremely frustrating for me not knowing if the first connect of the day will work or if it will hang up until I kill it.  I am trying to get into the ZM right now and it's hanging at the sign in dialog.  It's been "signing in" for 15 minutes.  That's just wrong.  When this happens I have to reboot my computer, after which it will log in just fine.  I have rebooted this PC more times in the last week (since getting the Zune) than in all the time I've used this PC prior to that.  I usually never reboot my P1610, I use Standby and Resume but I have to reboot constantly when the ZM hangs up.  Just now I rebooted and when I fired up the Zune software I got a message that said the Zune Marketplace update was complete.  Microsoft is updating the Marketplace software and it's hanging me up until I reboot.  Since the Zune is a consumer electronic device I would absolutely HATE to work on Zune tech support.  They must be getting calls all the time.

I really like the Zune player so I'm not going to throw in the towel just yet.  My wife's Zune experience is flawless, she experiences none of the problems I have with mine.  I should point out that my computer is only a month old, so it's not cluttered up with all the junk that Windows XP accumulates over time.  It should be the perfect platform for installing and running the Zune software without problems, so I don't know why it is having all the various problems that it does.  I guess it's just my luck of the draw, but that's hardly a good reason, is it?

jkOnTheRun Review- Fujitsu P1610 Tablet Mode Bump Case

Miyagi, my Fujitsu P1610 Tablet PC, is a true workhorse and I couldn’t be happier with the boost in productivity I am enjoying having it around.  The small device is so light it begs to be taken everywhere and makes it simple to do so.  On the days when I spend most of my time at Big Oil Company, I am usually going from one conference room to another and I have been carrying Miyagi in my hand from meeting to meeting on those days.  I have been getting a little concerned about the safety of the P1610 when I carry it by itself in my hand so I decided to pick up the Tablet Mode Bump Case from Fujitsu (part # (FPCCC79).  I received it this past week and have been using it for a few days so I thought I’d share what I could about this capable case.

Would you pay $1700 for a Windows Mobile phone?

Apparently, that's what the HTC Athena will set you back based on this HTC roadmap info tipped to us by Mobility Site. Both of those links will cover the entire HTC product roadmap; there's several new devices in the works, but I'll let you browse them at your leisure. I'm more interested in the reported price point of the Athena at nearly two-grand.

Is there really a market for such a device at that price? Yes, you do get cellular capabilities integrated in and the screen is larger than most Windows Mobile devices of today at 5-inches. You also get the option to attach or detach the keypad, which is a very flat-looking keyboard. There's no doubt the device is intriguing and a has a nice design. Keep in mind what you're not going to get for the money:

• Ability to run full Windows applications since this device will run Windows Mobile, not Windows XP
• Opportunity to output the display to an external monitor; from what I can see there's no way to do this

Mobile tech is really all about compromise: we sacrifice features for power or usability for size, etc....that's just a fact of life. The question is: are you willing to sacrifice $1700 for a device with this feature set? I'm sure there will be a few folks that do and there's nothing wrong with that, but my hope was that HTC was truly entering the UMPC market with a Windows-based device; based on the Athena, my guess is that this is their entry. Hopefully I'm off-base and we'll see something else at CES. In fairness to HTC, maybe we shouldn't be surprised about a high-end Windows Mobile device; HTC WM phones are among the best available on the market today.

Early Vista Tip #7: dynamically resize the desktop icons

Vista offers more customization and control over the user environment than any prior Windows version. Take for example, the desktop icons and shortcuts. You can use the standard icon sizes, but why use cookie-cutter dimensions? After all, everyone has different preferences and you want those icons to work for you, not for "the standard user".

To dynamically resize all of the icons and shortcuts on your desktop, just single click one of them. At this point, you'll need a mouse with a scroll wheel: simply hold down your keyboard CTRL key and use your mouse wheel to increase or decrease the size of the icons. Here's a before and after of two icons on my Vista desktop:

      

If the standard sizes don't cut it on in your Vista environment, try this trick to resize 'em. On a smaller screen device with a touchscreen, this can really come in handy. 31 days, 14 hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds left....29....28.....27.....

Friday's question: what's the best RSS reader for Tablet PCs?

I realize this is a subjective question, so let me explain why I'm asking. Yesterday, I got the "Google Reader" bug. Sure, I tried the Google RSS reader some time ago but not recently, so I gave it another go yesterday and an amazing thing happened: I got through all of my feed items. For the first time in months. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that Google Reader is the best for you; everyone's style and workflow is different, plus our needs change over time. I'll just say that in 15 minutes, I was hooked and promptly made the move full time to Google Reader because it works well for me.

So how did this happen? What was so different? Three things stood out from the experience.

Medion RIM 1000 ultraportable photos

Word of the Medion RIM 1000 ultra-portable PC began surfacing a couple of months ago and there was even a short video of the mystery device that surfaced on YouTube.  The RIM 1000 is interesting because it has what appears to be a very usable keyboard that slides out from the device.  SlashGear has gotten their hands on the Medion device and posted a few photos of it and I must admit it’s an intriguing little PC.  It’s pretty cool that the photos show the RIM to be running Vista.  The known specs are as follows:

• CPU:   Via C7–M 1.0 GHz
• Memory:   512 MB
• Display:   6.5”, 800x480 (backlit)
• Connectivity:   WiFi (b,g), Bluetooth 2.0
• Hard drive:   1.8”, 20/30/40 GB options
• Web cam:   VGA
• Dimensions:   7.48” x 4.72” x 1.1”
• Weight:   1.5 lbs.
• I/O Ports:   VGA, docking connector
• Battery life:  4 – 5 hours (quoted)

Reporter likes the Asus R2H and Samsung Q1b

Maybe MSM is finally figuring out what the rest of us have known for a while that the small size and plentiful features are the UMPC’s main strengths.  PC World reporter Dennis O’Reilly likes the new Asus R2H for it’s plethora of features that includes a fingerprint reader and integrated GPS, and the Samsung Q1b with the Via processor for its long battery life. Mr. O’Reilly definitely “gets it” far better than other MSM journalists who can’t seem to get past the lack of a keyboard.  I find it interesting that the article claims the Via processor in the Q1b provides double the battery life of the Celeron version.  That is very significant since battery life is often one of the main complaints against the UMPC.

Battery life may be the R2H's main weakness, but it happens to be the $899 Samsung Q1B's main strength. Armed with a Via processor (in lieu of the original Q1 model's Intel CPU), the Q1B's battery life was more than double that of the Q1: In my testing the Q1B ran for 4 hours, 25 minutes.

ROEM, an electronic paper concept

Reading On The Move, aka: ROEM, is a concept that looks very intriguing. ROEM is a multi-function design that centers around rollable electronic paper providing access to digital eBook content, photos, music and learning content. ROEM is also meant to be judicious with power, following in the footsteps of other e-ink devices that only use power when re-rendering the page.

Sound far-fetched? I've seen actual rollable electronic paper applications and although the prototype was small, I believe the technology isn't that far away. Can you imagine carrying one of these and unrolling it for your morning paper?